A Million Voices for Public Services

Branch Campaign News

Find out how our branches across the UK are standing up for public services. If you're a member of a branch and want to share your campaign news, this is the place.

Dartford Local Government
UNISON members in Dartford have been out campaigning this summer ensuring that UNISON's messages and values are heard loud and clear. Staff working at the recently privatised theatre, The Orchard, joined the KSOS (Kent Save Our Services) walk from Dartford to Dover. The walk commenced from The Orchard Theatre. Waving banners and balloons, theatre staff walked the short distance to the council offices to deliver a powerful message and voice their opposition to the volunteering measures instigated by HQ Theatres who operate the theatre on behalf of Dartford Borough Council. More news on the walk can be found on the branch website: www.unisondartford.co.uk KMFM, BBC Radio Kent and the local press covered the story: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/june/15/unison_in_pay_protest.aspx In other news, the branch has been working with members whom have been denied annual leave entitlements - successfully, the members have been repaid thousands of pounds in payments that had been denied to them through miscalculations.
North East Derbyshire
Our branch attended the March at London. Despite the media coverage of all the violence we never saw any trouble and we found this a fantastic day for the Million Voices Campaign.
Bolton
Bolton local government branch gathered a petition of 4,000 signatures to save Animal World mini-zoo in Moss Bank park.
Lambeth
Lambeth UNISON joined other protesters at a Save Lambeth Libraries protest at Brixton library on Saturday to speak out against the proposed cuts to local libraries.
East Sussex
East Sussex council had planned to cut social care for the elderly, however these cuts will now not go ahead. The council is Tory-controlled and says that it has received an extra £6.9m from the government towards adult social care.
Sefton
UNISON, GMB and Unite are balloting for industrial action over threatened 5% pay cuts at Sefton council. Members at Sefton have already suffered a two year pay freeze, the loss of an incremental pay rise and introduction of car parking and loss of essential car user allowance.
Southend On Sea BC
Southend BC branch is considering organising a ballot of members over the council's planned cuts of £15.5m. UNISON members have also been lobbying councillors about the cuts and holding regular meetings.
Bolton
UNISON in Bolton is holding a series of meetings with council workers on spending cuts and job losses. More than 1,300 staff have been sent 'at risk' letters saying their jobs may be axed. The meetings are being held at different venues in the area.
Rhondda Cynon Taff local government
We have organised a march and rally "Wales Against the CUTS" on the 19th February 2011. we will be marching through Pontypridd. we will be joined by our collegues from the PCS and other Trade unions.
Luton & Dunstable Hospital
The Luton & Dunstable Hospital UNISON branch held a demonstration outside the hospital main entrance. Leaflets were given out and members were encouraged to spend some of their lunch break outside with us. We had a steady interest from the general public and service users and at one point had over 30 people standing collectively with us.
Lambeth local government

More than 200 local people supported the demonstration in Brixton on Saturday 30 October called by Lambeth Save Our Services, supported by Lambeth UNISON. UNISON's Lambeth local government branch has been working with GMB, NUT and UCU branches as well as the Lambeth Pensioners Action Group and Lambeth Tenants Council to oppose cuts in public spending. Speakers at the rally included Labour Councillor Kingsley Abrams and former Council Leader Ted Knight. The demonstration was front page news for the South London Press. Our next step will be a public meeting on Saturday 20 November to discuss how to carry forward local opposition to cuts in public spending.
Barnsley UNISON

Barnsley unison LG branch held a rally in Peel Square, Barnsley to oppose the the cuts affecting Barnsley. Hundreds attended including students from Barnsley College and other TUC affiliated unions. Local press and TV coverage. Went live on lunchtime news on Yorkshire Television.
Salford City Branch
We are holding a protest on Wednesday 29th September at noon , jointly with other public sector unions outside the Civic Centre in Swinton as part of the ETUC Day of Action.
Gravesham Local Government

Kent’s regional office staff along with activists from the Gravesham Local Government Branch organised a UNISON tent and promoted UNISON’s Million Voices for Public Services Campaign at the Community Event, Gravesham Big Day Out, on 27th July 2010 in Gravesend. The day was a great success: nearly a 100 individuals from the local community signed the speech bubble cards on the day, adding their voice to the UNISON campaign.
City of Edinburgh Branch

City of Edinburgh Branch lobbied councillors on 24 June as part of its campaign against privatisation that could affect up to 3,500 jobs. The campaign has included press adverts, weekly public leafleting, special bulletins, a detailed analysis of the council's plans, lobbying and a briefing pack for councillors. See links to all of these at http://www.unison-edinburgh.org.uk/citynotforsale/index.html
Sandwell Health

The Branch worked with members and campaigned against a hostile Management bid on Social Enterprise, against staff wishes. The Branch worked to get an independent ballot done for staff to show their wanting to reamin oin the NHS and not wanting Social Entreprise. The Branch arranged a lunch time demo which was covered, very well, by local TV News.
Norfolk County Branch

The Norfolk Branch is campaigning against 65 job losses in the Connexions Service. As a result of the Coalition Governments bizarre decision to cut budgets part way through the financial year Norfolk County Council have identified the need to save £1.4m but have come up with a proposal that doubles that.

Young people and Connexions workers have lobbied Council meetings and the branch have launched a high profile publicity campaign supplemented with strong lobbying of County Councillors and MPs. Locally the Liberals & Green parties have been particularly supportive of the need to save the Connexions Service.

Headteachers and Principals have condemned the proposals, flagging up it will be vulnerable young people who will be most severely impacted by the cuts.

The Audit Commission has said prevention is better than cure, stressing that failure to support young people now causes more problems later and is more costly overall to the state. It's a mad world that is so short sighted.

See also: http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=6274
South Tyneside Local Government
The Branch is leading a campaign to keep open the last three Council run Adult Care Homes.After obtaining a 6 month reprieve in February, the Council has now published proposals to close two homes by Christmas and another within two years. The Save Our Care Homes Group met last week to organize petitions and street stalls. The consultation on the proposals runs until 31 August and the Council's Cabinet is due to make a decision in early October.
East Renfrewshire

Along with local community activists, we braved the rain held a Stop the Cuts demo on Barrhead Main Street. We also plan to have a presence at our Council's meetings to show together we will fight cuts to jobs and services and highlight the effect cuts have on our communities.
Medway PCT, Kent & Medway Mental Health Branch
UNISON’s exhibition trailer became a familiar site around Kent during the spring, as it visited various Medway primary care trust workplaces to get the Million Voices message out and to warn against the threat of privatisation in the area.

40 new members and two new workplace contacts were recruited. Local organiser Kunal Patel explained:

“We publicised the event in advance by sending each and every member a flyer for the roadshow, requesting them to share the information with their colleagues in workplaces and also inviting non-members to join us at the roadshows.”

More than 200 staff visited the union’s trailer, signed the anti-privatisation petition and adding their voices to the Million Voices campaign. And in late May, the Kent team took the campaign a stage further, lobbying Medway primary care trust board members following its plans to privatise the service.
Oxfordshire County Local Government Branch

Oxfordshire County UNISON Local Government Branch have been promoting the million voices for public services campaign in schools and all Oxfordshire County Council offices.

When we returned from UNISON's National conference we used all the extra campaign material from UNIZONE at our UNISON stand for our staff conference. Over 600 staff attended.

Barbara Harper (behind the stand) and Janie Slaymaker (wearing a green campaign t-shirt) were proud to cover the stall on behalf of the branch.
Stockport LG
I took the speech bubbles to our Learning at Work Day at Stockport Town Hall, I managed to sign up 25 people, they all got a badge and a window sticker.
Northern Region

Northern Region branches react to budget cuts/wage freeze announcement on Tuesday 22nd June. Northern branches joined with colleagues from PCS and Unite and UCU outside Newcastle Civic Centre following the budget, to hear from Regional Convenor Clare Williams and other speakers who outlined the devastating effects which the government's attack on public services will have in the coming months and years. Hundreds of members heard how UNISON's Million Voices campaign would be vital in ensuring an alternative to the Tory/LibDem cuts programme. And how it would make the public and service users aware of how these cuts would devastate their services while the real culprits, the financiers and bankers who caused the recession, returned to "business as usual". UNISON and our trade union colleagues will be at the forefront of opposition to these savage cuts.
North Durham Healthcare
North Durham Healthcare Branch promote Million Voices and Learning Agenda North Durham Healthcare Branch activists have been busy in local workplaces, spreading the word about UNISONs Million Voices Campaign and talking to members about the Lifelong Learning agenda.

From Stalls, set up in North Durham University, Shotley Bridge and Chester-le-Street Hospitals, stewards, assisted by Regional Organising staff, have been engaging members and patients and visitors about the campaign to defend their NHS.

Sandra White, Assistant Branch Secretary of the North Durham Healthcare Branch, said: “we want our members and the public to sign up to the campaign and show their support. We need to show the Government that we won’t stand by while they destroy our NHS through privatisation and cuts”. Hundreds of signatures have already been collected and

Geoff Waterston, a porter at University Hospital, said: “as soon as we told people what the campaign was about, social justice, good jobs and quality public services, they couldn’t wait to sign up. Members and the public who use these essential services feel strongly that quality public services are essential to us all”.

The stalls were also used to promote Learning in the Workplace and Sandra, who is also the Learning Co-ordinator for the Branch and part of the Regional Bridges to Learning Project said: “members can access all sorts of learning and development in classes such as maths, English, customer services and so on, to enhance their opportunities at work and to develop themselves as people as well”.
Southend-on-Sea Local government

Unison members at Southend Council held a lunchtime stall at the Civic Centre and collected dozens of signed 'speech bubbles' from colleagues and members of the public. It went down really well and we gave out a lot of Union membership forms as well. Now we plan to hit the local High Street as well as trying to get our own members, friends and families to sign up.
Yorkshire and Humberside area

Sharon Mehta: We used the Million Voices speech bubble cards at a local careers fair in Hallam:

The event was a good opportunity to engage with our members and potential members; there was genuine interest in the campaign from both exhibitors at, and visitors, to the careers fair - including RCN members.

Talking to people about the campaign led to spontaneous discussions on the role of trade unions - specifically UNISON - and the relevance of trade union membership today.
West Midlands branches and region

Branches and UNISON officers in the West Midlands got together for a week of intensive Million Voices campaigning.

Jenny Harvey, chair of the regional health committee:

The health branches and the regional organisers got together and identified a number of venues that they wanted to target for this week. The branches had the events authorised with the employers.

We ordered speech bubbles, badges, leaflets and posters as well as the cotton tote bags. We found the bags and the speech bubbles were extremely useful in engaging members as well as non-members.

At the end of the week we held a rally at Russells Hospital that got good media attention. It was a rally against a catering and cleaning company called Sunlight that had been refusing to implement Agenda for Change. It got a lot of coverage in local media.

In total, in just one week, we recruited 517 new members, 9 new stewards and completed 2485 bubbles. It was such a success that we hope to repeat the exercise later in the year.
Barnsley Health and Local Government Branches
Held a day of action where hundreds add their voice to Million Voices campaign
Birmingham City Local Government Branch
Hit the headlines with a noisy demonstration against council job cuts
Bolton Local Government Branch
Collected over 1,500 signatures protesting against cuts to Connexions and youth services
Cambridgeshire Local Government Branches
Organised a public 'Question Time' event for local residents to discuss the future of public services
Cardiff Local Government Branch
Made headlines with a hard-hitting campaign against privatisation of council services
Chesterfield Local Government Branch
Campaigning against proposals to privatise corporate, housing and leisure services
Cleveland Police Branch
Delivered leaflets to local households about threat of control room privatisation
Essex Local Government Branches
Campaigning against job cuts and major IBM privatisation
Glasgow City Local Government Branch
Organised public meeting to launch joint union/community campaign in support of public services
Ipswich Hospital Branch
Used the campaign to revitalise their branch and recruit new members
Luton Local Government Branch
Signed up their local MP and council leader
Nottingham City Local Government Branch
Organised a rally for staff and service users against cuts to social care
Nottinghamshire County Local Government Branch
Reversed £4.6m of cuts to residential care, meals-on-wheels and welfare rights services with vigorous workplace, community and media campaigning
Northamptonshire Local Government Branch
Ran bus stop ad campaign highlighting secrecy over money wasted on private sector consultants
Lincolnshire Local Government Branches
Halted proposals for privatised shared services using APSE research
Mid-Devon Local Government Branch
Sponsored a floral roundabout to highlight value of public services
Northern Ireland Region
Worked with fellow unions to organise simultaneous rallies against public service cuts across Northern Ireland
South West Region
Signed up hundreds of supporters at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival
Northumberland Local Government Branch
Forced rethink of plans to close day centres and 12 smaller libraries
Port Neath Talbot Local Government Branch
Marched against care homes closure
Surrey County Local Government Branch
Launched 'Save our services' website
Northern Region
Signed up hundreds of new Million Voices supporters at Durham Miners' Gala
West Midlands Region
Held 'A Million Voices for the NHS' week that brought in 517 new UNISON members and 2,485 campaign supporters